commodity prices
Farmers’ planting plans point to No. 2 soy, No. 3 corn crops
U.S. farmers intend to sow a record amount of land to soybeans and pare back on corn planting this spring, the government said in a report that puts the second-largest soybean crop ever and the third-largest corn crop on the horizon. Mammoth crops would mean at least one more year of comparatively low commodity prices after the price peaks of 2012. Abundant supplies would help hold down food price inflation.
Value of U.S. crops falls by 9 percent in 2014
U.S. farmers grew $192.8 billion worth of the major field and specialty crops, from corn to chickpeas, last year, down 9 percent from 2013 due to lower commodity prices, according to the annual Crop Values report.
Pioneer, a “crown jewel,” affected by DuPont tussle
Fast-growing Pioneer, one of the largest U.S. seed companies, could face "long-term repercussions" from a proposal by a New York investor to break up corporate parent DuPont, reports the Des Moines Register.
USDA projects third mammoth corn crop in a row
U.S. farmers will grow their second-largest soybean crop ever this year, and the third-largest corn crop, according to the USDA's revised projections of spring planting. In the opening day of its Outlook Forum, the department projected corn plantings of 89 million acres and soybeans at 83.5 million acres. That's 1 million more acres of corn than was projected in December and 500,000 fewer acres of soybeans. It would put soybean plantings just below the record 83.7 million acres of 2014.
USDA data-fest highlights early crop projections
The USDA's annual Outlook Forum traditionally generates headlines with its projections of U.S. crop production seven months before harvest, a challenging exercise considering the many factors that could intervene. A late-winter surge in commodity prices could sway planting decisions, a cold and rainy spring can force last-minute changes among crops, and a summer drought can destroy crop prospects.
USDA’s Market News service celebrates its centennial
The Market News wing of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service is celebrating its centennial this year. Market News issues more than 250,000 reports a year on prices at hundreds of markets for cotton, fruits, vegetables and specialty crops...
Weaker farm income to pull down land value in Plains
Farm bankers in the central Plains "expect cropland values to fall alongside reduced expectations for farm income" this year, said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank in its quarterly Agricultural Credit Conditions report.
CME Group will close most of its futures trading pits
CME Group, the operator of futures markets in Chicago and New York, said it will close most of its open outcry futures trading pits by July 2.
“Their real end game is to kill crop insurance,” says Conaway
House Agriculture chairman Mike Conaway says that calls to reduce the cost of crop insurance are billed as reform, "but we know the real end game is to kill crop insurance."
In low-price era, farmers spurn new USDA revenue plan-CBO
With years of low commodity prices ahead, U.S. corn and wheat growers will stick to traditional crop subsidies, forecasts the Congressional Budget Office. In its annual economic forecast, CBO estimates only 37.5 percent of corn land and 28 percent of wheat land will be enrolled in the new Agriculture Risk Coverage subsidy offered by the 2014 farm law; the bulk will be put into the Price Loss Coverage program, which has the familiar structure of price guarantees.
USDA reports today may steer commodity prices until spring
The Agriculture Department is to release a handful of potentially pivotal reports today at noon ET that could set the tone for futures markets until spring-planting data becomes available. They include a final look at 2014 U.S. crop production; the monthly WASDE report with its estimates of crop output and usage worldwide; the Winter Wheat Seedings report, the first hint of this year's crops, and the quarterly Grain Stocks report, which will indicate...
Growers plant 30 percent of US corn in one week
Farmers planted an eye-popping 30 percent of the corn crop, or more than 43,000 square miles of land, in the week ending on Sunday, according to USDA's Crop Progress report. After lagging for weeks due to rain, planting surged to reach the average pace of nearly 60 percent for this time of year. It is a remarkable leap but not uncommon.
Soybean plantings may climb despite downturn in price
U.S. farmers are likely to plant more land to soybeans in 2015 than they did this year despite lower commodity prices, says economist Dan O'Brien of Kansas State University.
Persistent low prices to reduce US crop area by 5 percent
Farmers will scale back plantings of the eight major field crops by nearly 5 percent - a total of 12.3 million acres - over the next five years in response to sustained, lower commodity prices, projects the Agriculture Department. The biggest cutbacks would be in wheat, down 8 percent, and soybeans, down 7 percent, from this year's levels. Corn, the most widely grown crop in the nation, would drop by 1.5 percent.
Biggest drop in Iowa farmland value since 1986, down 9%
Iowa farmland values fell by 9 percent this year, the largest decline since 1986 during the agricultural recession, pulled down by falling commodity prices, said an Iowa State University survey.
Machinery costs on the rise as commodity prices fall
During the agricultural boom that started in 2006, farm income zoomed and many producers upgraded their equipment. Data from two major farm states, Illinois and Kansas, shows the impact of the expenditures.
US farm exports set a record at $152.5 billion
U.S. farm exports set back-to-back records, climbing to $152.5 billion in just-ended fiscal 2014, said the Agriculture Department, up 8 percent from the mark set one year earlier.
Less idle land, more land for growing crops
Since 2007, enrollment in the long-term Conservation Reserve is down by 9.9 million acres; in fact, the 26.8 million acres in the reserve in 2013 was the smallest amount since 1988, writes economist David Widmar at the blog Agricultural Economic Insights.
Farmers to get $10 billion in economic assistance
President Biden signed a stop-gap government funding bill over the weekend that calls for speedy payment of $10 billion to farmers to buffer lower commodity prices and high production costs. Congress voted to fund the government through March 14 after a fight that showed the limits of President-elect Trump's control over Republican lawmakers.